Everyone has their favorite horror movie. You may love a slasher film or a classic, like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. But one of the best to ever do it turned 25 this year and what a way to celebrate the Halloween season!
Mary Harron’s adaptation of American Psycho has, for the last two decades, been my favorite film. It is a biting satire of wealth, men, and the power that a white “elite” man has over people. Or, more accurately, the power that said white man thinks he has.
Patrick Bateman (Christian Bale) is a man who has everything he could ever want. He’s rich, nepotism gave him an important job, he can spend hours on his body every day, and he has so much at his disposal that he murders to make himself feel something. Or maybe he doesn’t. It is up to the viewer’s discretion. And maybe that’s what I love about American Psycho. You have the power to decide what kind of monster Patrick Bateman is.
A rich white man who has everything is a dangerous being. Especially one who is never checked and constantly thinks that he is better than the rest of the world. While Bret Easton Ellis wrote the novel as part of his hatred with New York City, it has become a perfect satire for male rage.
There’s a lot to unpack within Patrick’s story. Is this a look at men’s mental health and the inability some have to reach out for help? Is Patrick a perfect example of the destructive ways of white male power and rage? Yes to both but it is also so much more than that and Harron, along with her co-writer Guinevere Turner, weave all these themes together beautifully in the film.
My name is Patrick Bateman. I’m 27 years old
I have always been someone who believes that American Psycho as a story does not belong to the cis, straight male demographic. If a man tells me that it is his favorite movie, I ask why that is. Luckily, most men who appreciate this movie do so for the right reasons. It isn’t always the case but for the most part, we have seen how this story can be told.
Harron and Turner took Ellis’ novel that is, at times, impossible to read and made something special with their adaptation. You understand how Patrick gets away with all of this. Even if you believe it is all in his head, you can see his downfall and his issues displayed vividly on screen. Or if he did actually kill all those people, you can understand how no one believes him.
There is just so much about this movie and story that I love. I think it is our greatest satire and the kind of horror movie that transcends how people feel about the genre. Even people who don’t like horror movies love American Psycho and that is why, to me, what Harron and Turner did is so special. And we’ve had 25 years of its perfection.
(featured image: Lionsgate)
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